Chelsea 3-0 Everton Ladies - 6th Jan 2018

Willie Kirk admits there is still work to be done with his Everton Ladies side after they succumbed to a 3-0 defeat at Chelsea.

A slow start from the Toffees saw the reigning WSL champions take an early lead via Bethany England’s low finish after just six minutes at Kingsmeadow.

But Chloe Kelly almost equalised just before half time only to be kept out by a fantastic save from Hedvig Lindahl.

Chelsea then upped the ante after the break and sealed victory courtesy of strikes from Drew Spence and Hannah Blundell.

“Although it was only 1-0 at half time, I felt we started the game really poorly,” reflected Kirk. “Chelsea could have been out of sight by the time we got going and found our feet.

“After 25 minutes, suddenly we came to life and their keeper has pulled off a world class save which could have made it 1-1.

“We got in at half time quite pleased with the score at 1-0 because we felt there were a lot of problems we could solve. But in the second half we never really got into gear.”

The former Bristol City boss recognises that there is still plenty of work to do with his squad of players, who travel to Brighton next week.

But Kirk insists it is against the likes of Chelsea that he will compare his side as he looks to continue transforming his Toffees.

“I don’t think Chelsea cut us open,” he added. “Despite them having a lot of the ball and quite a few chances, the goals they ended up scoring were sloppy and we are disappointed with that.

“We had a couple of moments at the other end. Elise Hughes has finished well but was offside and Chloe has only been denied by an outstanding save. For us, we know there are goals in the team, it is just about creating more chances.

“We won’t judge ourselves against sides around us in the league – we will judge ourselves against the likes of Chelsea and their standards.”